Western Michigan offensive line has no choice but to hold up

KALAMAZOO, MI — Western Michigan University football fans have figured out
by now that first-year coach P.J. Fleck's glass is at least half-full no matter
the circumstances. And now that the Broncos find themselves in a 0-5 hole with
the Mid-American Conference portion of the season underway, the message has
shifted lightly from rowing to digging.

Despite three of WMU's offensive linemen getting popped for
holding penalties in the first half, including back-to-back flags on the second
possession of the game, there were positives that came out of that group's
performance. Western had 167 rushing yards and gave up just one sack. After
giving up five sacks in the season opener at Michigan State, senior quarterback
Tyler Van Tubbergen has been taken down behind the line of scrimmage only twice
over the past three games.

Van Tubbergen did take several hits from the Golden Flashes,
which is cause for concern.

Considering left tackle Willie Beavers, left guard James
Kristof, center Jon Hoffing, right guard Greg Peters and right tackle Taylor
Moton have not missed a single snap this season (369 total plays), that they've
been able to hold up this well is fairly remarkable.

Hoffing's toughness in particular was on display in
Saturday's 32-14 loss to Kent State — a game in which he played from start to
finish with what is believed to be a medial collateral ligament injury suffered
during pregame warm-ups.

"He's just a tough kid," Fleck said of the 6-foot-5,
280-pound junior.

Fleck added that the team would have a better idea of the
extent of the damage to Hoffing's left knee Sunday.

Guards Jackson Day (freshman) and John Jackson (redshirt
freshman), tackles Travis Turner (sophomore) and Ben Davisson (redshirt
freshman) are listed as backups. Turner registered mostly special teams time in
2012.